Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/1vh5xcq/tifu_big_time_by_forgetting_to_close_my_friends/

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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Flaky-Location3071 on 2026-08-06 14:31:46+00:00.

This happened in the last two days basically. Since my friends were on holiday they asked me to water their plants at their place. Tuesday was the last day I wanted to check on them before they got back from holiday. I opened the roof window (they live on the top floor with a slanted roof) right above their couch to air out their place a bit, while I watered the plants. Then I left home, forgetting the window was open, and then that same night (Tuesday-Wednesday night) the heavy rain came..

Yesterday night (Wednesday-Thursday night) they came back and texted me when the last time was I was at their place and when it had rained, because there was a window open, and their couch was soaked and their untreated wooden floors (!!) had a lot of water. FUCK.

Needless to say, their floor is probably ruined: they said the boards were soft from all the soaked up rain, and you could see the water rings where the water had been standing. Furthermore, they have this elevation in their house, this is why I could open the window that is on the slanted roof top. the water has dripped down the side of the walls and now the wall paper is peeling off, and due to the shape of their house they will likely have to redo the entire wall of wall paper. Their couch is now dry and hopefully no mould, but their wooden side table now also has cracked and damaged edges from the water. All in all, quite some damage. Adn thats just hoping no integrity damage to the walls and floor from the long-standing water.

To make matters that much worse, I don't have insurance because my executive-dysfunction ass just never thought to *actually* get insurance at any point in the last year, so yeah, I hope I can actually cover the damage costs (actually hope their insurance can cover most of it), but mostly I am so upset that I ruined their house when I actually woke up that night with a panic about whether I had closed the window or not, and had I just gone in the next day to check, I could have started on damage-control much earlier, or even better: HAD I JUST CLOSED THE FUCKING WINDOW everything would have been fine and they would have gotten home to their lovely (and still intact) home after a long journey back from holidays. But instead they have this whole situation now and it's my fault.

TL:DR; my friends were on holiday, I forgot to close the window, heavy rainfall, wall paper, wooden floors, wooden furniture exposed to 24hr water damage (and I don't have insurance).